I received my Van's order and was able to get the outside wear plates installed today. It was difficult to get the bolts in the holes as they are up under the skins. I got creative with some tape to hold the bolts while I turned the wear plate upside down and slid them into position. The bolts would naturally want to fall out and initially, I taped then flush to the wear plate, but they would not go into the hole that way. So, I loosened the tape which allowed the holes to line up and that worked out great. I pushed one bolt thru the hole then put the washer and nut on and hand tightened them, then I did the same on the other hole – and then the same on the other side.
I did not torque the nuts yet as I will still need to install at least the rear landing gear bolts before I am ready to install the landing gear. Those are close tolerance bolts and will be tougher to install. I also will be flipping the bolts over and installing it "down" so that I can use the bolt retainers and torque the nuts from under the airplane without having to reach into the gear towers after the first taxi, 10 flight hours, 50 flight hours and at every annual. It will be some one time pain…for long term gain.
